Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
American Samoa BRFSS Project - Abstract Summary: The American Samoa Department of Health (ASDOH) has relied on surveillance tools to monitor the prevalence of NCD’s and other communicable diseases in the Territory. This is vital to an island that has one of the highest obesity and diabetes rates in all of the United States. One of the successful surveillance tools recently implemented has been the BRFSS survey, which was established in 2012. The BRFSS data collected over the past 7 years has impacted the department in a positive way, by creating a database that has influenced programmatic goals/objectives, outreach strategies and surveillance capacity. Local Stakeholders continue to provide the support needed for the BRFSS project to thrive in a climate that has seen a decline in response rates due to a 30% drop in home telephone services. This has the ASDOH redesigning its delivery platform in 2020, to include cell phones and other communication devices used in the community. The 2020 ASDOH BRFSS project will include local SARS CoV2 questions that will assist in the department’s response efforts and will incorporate local modules that will benefit the department’s mental health division. Continuation of the BRFSS survey in American Samoa will ensure that ASDOH has the capabilities and capacity to collect population data that will provide an enhanced view for public health policies and decisions.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).